Can marine park become an ecotourism destination? Evidence from stakeholders' perceptions of the suitability
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Since the emergence of mass tourism activities in the 1960s, the overuse of natural tourism resources has occurred (Oreja-Rodríguez and Yanes-Estévez, 2007). They mainly focused on the economic dimensions, regardless of the socio-environmental impact (Mosammam et al., 2016). This has led to reduce welfare of tourists in the trip and damage to the local environment. The term ecotourism emerged in the late 1980s (Diamantis, 1999). Ecotourism is often considered to be a potential strategy to support conservation of natural ecosystems while, at the same time, promoting sustainable local development (Ross and Wall, 1999). It contributes to revenue generation, job opportunities, and protection of local ecosystems (Muhanna, 2006). The principal concern for ecotourism development is how to minimize the negative environmental impact and protect the natural resources from degradation (Bhuiyan et al., 2015). In other words, ecotourism is an alternative approach and aims to protect natural resources, especially biological diversity; promote the sustainable use of resources; create ecological experience and environmental awareness for tourists and at the same time, protect and respect the natural and cultural heritage of destinations, benefit the local communities and put them at the center of development and planning processes (Bansal & Kumar, 2011; Fennell, 1999; Tewodros, 2010; Mosammam et al., 2016)).
Because of special habitats and beautiful sceneries, marine protected areas are favored by tourists and become important ecotourism destinations. Ecotourism has been one of the main economic sources for many of China's protected areas over the past 10 years (Li, 2004). Marine Park is one kind of marine protected areas. Apart from the objectives related to the conservation of biodiversity, the establishment of marine parks tends naturally to have a positive effect on the enjoyment and appreciation of natural resources by the public (Yacob et al., 2009). In China, marine parks are established to protect marine ecology and historical and cultural values, and to give full play to their ecotourism functions. On May 19, 2011, the State Oceanic Administration of China released the list of the first seven state-level Marine Parks. Up to now, China has established 48 state-level Marine Parks. After the reform of national institutions in 2018, the management of marine park was transferred to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China. In recent years, there has been an upsurge of establishing marine parks to promote ecotourism, and Dongshan Island in China is one of them. Conflicts between ecotourism developments and conservation needs arise when nature-based tourism industries rely on access and use of the resources in Marine Parks. We need to look rationally at the establishment of marine parks and the development of ecotourism. Therefore, it is of great significance for regional ecological protection and future development to scientifically evaluate the suitability of ecotourism.
Stakeholder theory highlights the importance of stakeholder interests and perceptions in supporting tourism destination development (Byrd, 2007), and distinguishes between the effects of these perceptions and the interests of various stakeholders with regard to their support for tourism development (Wagner Mainardes et al., 2011; Nicholas et al., 2009). Therefore, we applied the stakeholder theory in this study in order to conceptualize and quantify the relationship between stakeholder perceptions and the suitability of marine parks for ecotourism development. Stakeholder theory also provides us with an opportunity to examine the heterogeneity among stakeholders from the perspectives of stakeholder perception and support for ecotourism development.
Section snippets
Analytical framework
Ecotourism evaluation should be regarded as an important tool for sustainable development of tourism in a protected area (Bunruamkaew and Murayam, 2011). It can be judged by standards and index methods, which are basically sustainable ecotourism management concepts developed from a set of principles, standards and indicators. There is no unified evaluation standard for the development of ecotourism in protected areas (Wu et al., 2015), and previous research focuses on value protection or on
Sample characteristics
In this survey, we received 143 valid questionnaires. The personal profile of respondents in Dongshan Island is shown in Table 3. Among the interviewees, there are slightly more women than men. Judging from the difference in education level, the proportion of bachelor's degree or above is the largest, accounting for 34.3%, followed by Junior college, accounting for 28.7%. In terms of occupation, those who are working in government departments accounted for the largest proportion, including
Conclusion and policy implications
This study illustrates the theme of ecotourism suitability through several academic and management contributions. First of all, this study uses multi-criteria evaluation method to build the ecotourism suitability evaluation index system and evaluation model, and takes Dongshan Island in China as an example for empirical analysis. Ecotourism involves many complicated aspects related to environmental, social and economic factors. The successful indicators should reflect the key variables, and be
Declaration of competing interest
We declare that we do not have any conflicts of interest related to the submitted work.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for support provided by China-ASEAN Marine Cooperation Fund project named China-ASEAN Marine Protected Areas Ecosystem Management Network, China-Vietnam Marine and Island Environmental Management in Beibu Gulf, Monitoring and conservation of the coastal ecosystems in the South China Sea. Lastly, we are grateful to all the respondents who participated in our study.
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